The Hammers officially started their pre-season regime this week as they returned to training. Wednesday saw them take part in their first friendly of the summer as they took on Seattle Sounders at CenturyLink Field.

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic

It was not a strong start for them though as they were comfortably beaten 3-0 by a much fitter Sounders team.

It was obviously a disappointing evening, but considering his side only return to training on June 30, Bilic says that a positive was nobody getting injured in the clash.

“OK a game is a game and in every game the result is important,” he told whufc.com.

“Basically we only started training a few days ago and we are in the process of hard training, so for me the most important thing was to get through without anyone being injured and make it a good training.”

West Ham's manager Slaven Bilic looks dejected

The result was certainly a disappointing one but not that surprising given how early West Ham are in the pre-season schedule.

As Bilic says, building up the squad’s fitness after the summer break is more important than anything at this stage.

Sean Lunt

Sean Lunt is a Journalism and Spanish graduate with a passion for football. As an avid Everton fan he has survived the Walter Smith era, enjoyed the resurgence under David Moyes and is now wholly embracing the Spanish revolution with Roberto Martinez. Away from Everton he follows the rest of the football league and has a particular interest in La Liga.